The Gilded Age: Conflict on the
Western Frontier
Unit 8, Lesson 3
Essential Idea
• As Americans moved west seeking
opportunity, conflict arose between many
different groups.
Moving West
• Moving West:
• During the Civil War
and Reconstruction,
government actions
encouraged
westward expansion
• Alaska:
• Alaska Purchase—
the United States
bought Alaska from
Russia in 1867
Laws Encouraging Expansion
• Laws Benefitting the West:
• Homestead Act—established sale of cheap land in the West (160 acres for $10)
• Morrill Land Grant Act—helped create agricultural and technical colleges to teach
skills needed in the West
• Pacific Railway Act—authorized building a northern transcontinental railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad
• Building West to
East:
• Company:
• Central Pacific
Railroad
• Labor:
• Mostly Chinese
immigrants
Building the Central Pacific
• Details:
• Workers built over and through the difficult terrain of
the Sierra Nevada mountains and harsh deserts
• Chinese immigrant workers were known for efficient
working despite discrimination in California
The Union Pacific Railroad
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Building East to West:
Company:
Union Pacific Railroad
Labor:
Irish immigrants, Civil War
veterans, ex-slaves, and
Mormons
Details:
Workers endured Native
American attacks as they built
through Indian territory
“Hell on Wheels”—these
“mobile boomtowns” of tents
followed the workers across
the plains….saloons, brothels,
gambling halls, etc.—lots of
vice
Building the Transcontinental
Railroad
Meeting in the Middle
• Meeting in the Middle:
• The two railroads met at
Promontory Point, Utah,
and were united by a
golden railroad spike
• Significance:
• The Transcontinental
Railroad united the
American West and East
• Trade with and
settlement of the West
accelerated
• As Americans poured
westward, conflict with
Native Americans
increased
• Transcontinental
Railroad Completed
Mining
•
•
•
•
Economic Opportunity:
Mining
Details:
The California Gold Rush
and Comstock Lode
brought settlers west
before the Civil War
• After the war, more gold
and silver rushes caused
more territories to grow
into states
• Miners and boomtowns
were often in Indian
territory, increasing conflict
with Native Americans
Ranching
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Economic Opportunity:
Ranching
Details:
Open range—large, open areas
of public land where cattle
grazed without fences (fencebuilding materials were scarce)
Cattle drives—“cowboys” would
round up cattle and lead them
long distances to the nearest
railroad
Dangers—cowboys dealt with
lightening storms, stampedes,
cattle rustlers, and Native
American attacks
At railroads, Cattle would be
sold and shipped via train to
eastern cities
Cowboys
Farming
• 3. Farming
• Encouraged by the
Homestead Act, most
Americans moving west
farmed in the Great Plains
• With few trees or rocks,
settlers built “sod houses”
out of the topsoil
• Water was scarce, making
successful farming difficult
• Conditions—isolated, lonely,
subject to extreme weather
conditions, and at risk for
Native American attacks
Surviving on the Plains
• New Farming
Technology:
• Farmers used
irrigation and
windmill-powered
wells for water in the
dry environment
• Steel plows,
mechanical reapers,
and steam-powered
tractors helped plant
and harvest huge
amounts of crops
• Homestead Life
The Western Frontier
• Conflict on the Frontier:
• With little early government, there was conflict on the frontier between
many groups and cultures
Farmers “Railroaded”
• 1. Railroads
• Railroads had a
monopoly on trade
between western
farmers and
eastern cities
• Railroads charged
high shipping rates
that hurt farmers
• Farmers eventually
joined together to
call for
government
regulation of the
railroads
The “Range Wars”
• 2. “Range Wars”
• “Open range” ended when barbed wire was invented because it let people fence in
land
• “Range Wars”—ranchers’ cattle drives were blocked by fences built by farmers and
sheepherders
• Different homesteaders also fought over fencing in the best pieces of land
• Hundreds died in the range wars before tension settled
The Wild West
• 3. Law Enforcement
• People moved to western
areas often before law
and order did
• Outlaws robbed banks
and trains and
committed murders and
were difficult to stop
• Local sheriffs struggled to
keep law order until
federal help arrived
• Eventually, the “wild
west” was “tamed” by
federal law enforcement
Nativism
• 4. Nativism
• Many Americans were
prejudiced against
non-American
immigrants to the
West
• Chinese Exclusion
Act—Chinese
immigration was
banned in 1882,
despite their help
building the
Transcontinental
Railroad
“Ecological
Imperialism”
• 5. The Environment
• Americans in the West often did not
care to conserve natural resources
• Mining—mining techniques often
destroyed mountains and polluted
water while smelters polluted air
• Destroying the Environment
Wasting
Resources
• Ranching—
open range
cattle
destroyed
grasslands
through
trampling and
overeating
• Farming—
farming
techniques
wore out soil
and irrigation
disrupted
rivers
Buffalo Extinction?
• Buffalo were hunted to near extinction for
hides, bones, to make way for railroads, or just
for “sport”
• Killing the Buffalo
•
The Plains Indians Wars
• 6. Plains Indians Wars
• The conflict between American settlers and Native Americans was the most violent
• Native Americans on the Great Plains were nomadic and followed buffalo herds
into American-claimed land
• Americans were killing the buffalo, which were vital Native American culture
• The Importance of Buffalo
The Plains Indians Wars
• Unwilling to
share land, the
American
government
forced Native
Americans on
to reservations
• Angry over
losing land,
buffalo, and
freedom,
Native
Americans
resisted with
violence